A Crack In The Blue Wall

How do you mend a broken heart? Jacqui Parker's gripping "A Crack in the Blue Wall" puts some new twists on a story of a family devastated by a horrible incident all too familiar from today's news, in this case the tragedy of a black youth shot down as he jogs through the Boston Common.

Her play is a compassionate, enlightening, many layered domestic drama for all age and backgrounds. And Ms. Parker as the director makes the most of this play's endearing characters yet tough-minded message and how it is delivered.

Mistaken for a bank robber or target practice for a racist cop, Trey, Jr.'s death reverberates through the lives of everyone who cared about the promising student. Set in New England in the present day, the action takes place over the course of seven months, from spring to winter.

Ms. Parker is concerned about the status African Americans have in the eyes of some of the police and courts much like the Black Lives Matters Movement; to do so she takes a unique tack in portraying the victims of contempt. To begin with Trey, Jr. comes from wealth, a fortune his mother has inherited and built upon. Further, his dad is a uniformed police officer. They are people of faith. They are homeowners. They, like so many Bostonians, have close friends who are from diverse backgrounds.

The title refers to the well established tradition of policemen protecting their brethren whether their actions are in the right or not. Breaking through this wall of silence becomes the mission of the Crawfords and their allies.

Cogently written and directed by Parker to bring out the many dimensions of each character's very human sides, "A Crack in the Blue Wall" continues for a third weekend, Nov. 20 through 22, at the beautifully refurbished Hibernian Hall in the Dudley Station, Roxbury neighborhood.

The cast is stellar. Trey, Jr.'s mom, Deltra Sybrina Brickmore-Crawford (played by Abria Smith) with a profound grasp of a woman and mother consumed by grief, begins to rely on anxiety relieving pills. She is convinced the drug puts her in touch with her dead son, whose ghost is played by Seyquan Mack. (All the characters are named after one and another recent victim of police violence against black youth).

Trey Wendell Crawford, whose heart was set on being a cop since he was a little boy, has married Deltra for love. He is a dedicated family man, whose happiness is centered in his home with his wife and their two boys. Wyatt Jackson plays him for his sincerity and devotion to his family and belief in the ethical responsibility of his job and the good he can do wearing the badge. These are exactly the qualities that makes Trey so great a person and so admirable a man.

Trey is unconvinced the shooting was called for but seeks the evidence that could bring the case before a grand jury. Meanwhile, he's concerned about his wife's anxieties and his other son's dropping out of college to take up in a very public way a challenge to the apparent foot dragging of the D.A.'s office in determining the legitimacy of the shooting. Dikallo Michael Brickmore-Crawford, as portrayed by Derek Jackson, is a lovable young man who puts aside his fantasy games and books now that that life has dealt him a more serious hand.

Written in a cinematic style, the play's 17 scenes offer any number of big moments, which offers everyone the opportunity to get to the heart of their characters. They do so in ways that are highly relatable for the audience.

Trey's white partner on the force, Evan Davis, is played with strength by the accomplished actor John Porell. He has a relationship with Trey dating back to the late 1970s busing of school children to achieve racial balance in the Boston classrooms. In those troubled, violent times, the two teens would likely be enemies, but found a friendship, one that has deepened and lasted to this day. Now Patrolman Davis has a dilemma that relates to Trey, Jr.'s death.

On another front, his daughter fancies herself in love with Trey, Jr.'s brother, but he regards her as a friend of the family only. Johanna Perez plays the love struck Leslie with tenderness and her unrequited love in a manner that surely rings a bell with every woman in the audience who remembers her teen years. Aiyana Grey plays Amelia Janine Lumpkin, a close friend of Trey, Jr.'s and like him a senior at an Ivy League college, who sticks by the family in their days of distress. A warm and loving person, vibrant and smart, by her presence she gives us the chance to know the young man we have lost to violence.

A word about the set by scene and lighting designer Anthony Phelps, which is minimal but recognizable as the home of people with money and taste. On the walls, hang five paintings by Gloretta Baynes, an artist with the African American Master Artists-in-Residence program supported by Northeastern University.

The play is the second by Jacqui Parker to be produced by Hibernian Hall, which has selected her as Visiting Playwright during 2015-2016 season. Her first play, "Roads to Wisdom," was presented in May 2015.

"A Crack in the Blue Wall continues this weekend Fri. Nov. 20 @8 and Sat.,Nov. 21 @ 8. (Please note: the Sun., Nov, 22 performance has been cancelled). Performances are at Hibernian Hall 184 Dudley Street, Roxbury, MA 02119. Tickets can be purchased at hibernianhall.org or at the door(general admission $25 with students and seniors $15).